After a hugely successful exhibition in August 2022 and 2023, Cork County Council in partnership with the National Archives brings the Michael Collins Diaries 1918-1922 back to Michael Collins House Museum, Clonakilty for August 2024.
This year, the exhibition will focus on August 1922, with the original diary pages for the first six days of August 1922 on display.
The pages detail his daily schedule, meetings and ‘to do’ lists giving an invaluable insight into his day-to-day life. From a note to contact the quarter master about army mattresses, to meetings to attend, calls to make and what could be read as an essential list of items to pack for a forthcoming trip.
The diary pages will be accompanied by a recent donation to the National Archives of draft telegrams written by Collins on 15 August 1922.
On the 15 August Michael Collins started his day in Limerick Head Quarters with a meeting to ascertain details of the transport available to him after his journey to the south which had been filled with car trouble. The text of these two telegrams shows how frustrated Collins was by the time he reached Cork later that afternoon. Undoubtedly, he was eager to return to Dublin for Griffith's funeral the following day.
The diaries have undergone significant conservation and preservation treatment, archival processing, and digitisation at the National Archives. The exhibition also includes an interactive touchscreen device on which all five diaries can be viewed.
The diaries are on loan to the National Archives by the family of the late Liam and Betty Collins, Clonakilty, Cork.
The National Archives gratefully acknowledges the gift of the telegram notes to the State by Ms. Maureen Coughlan, Florida, USA.
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